by Jill Sanders
Her father rushed to her and wrapped her in his arms. Looking over her head, he started asking Josh questions.
“Did you get a look at the car?”
“Truck,” Josh said. “No, other than the fact that they had an off-road LED light bar on top. The lights were blinding. I didn’t see him behind me until he flipped those on.”
Her dad let out a long heavy sigh. He glanced down at her and the damage on the car. “If you two are okay, I’ll go check on who I think could be behind this. I want to catch him pretty quick.”
“Dad?” she asked.
“The damage doesn’t seem too bad. I’ll call you later, sweetie. Josh will see to it that you get home okay.” She inwardly winced, since they hadn’t told him, or anyone else for that matter, that they were officially living together. “Thanks.” Her dad reached out and shook Josh’s hand. “I’ll file a report. Should I stop by your place later to—”
“I’m staying with Carrie,” Josh said while still holding onto her father’s hand.
“Dad, Josh is moving in with me.” Her entire body tensed.
Her father’s eyes narrowed briefly, but he recovered quickly. “I’ll stop by later.” He dropped Josh’s hand and quickly walked away.
* * *
“That wasn’t too bad,” Josh said as they watched Robert drive away.
Carrie turned towards him and shook her head slightly. “Come on, let’s go home.”
He took one last look at the busted bumper and then walked over and opened the door again.
They rode home in silence. When they arrived, he walked around with her to check on the animals. Everyone was happily tucked in their homes for the evening. They opened Louie’s kennel, and the dog raced around happily as they walked back to the house.
When they arrived, Robert was pulling into the driveway. Louie ran around, barking excitingly about the new visitor.
Carrie’s mother pulled in behind the patrol car. She got out of the truck and rushed to grab up Carrie in a hug.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes, we’re fine.” Carrie pulled back.
“Find anything?” Josh asked Robert.
“Yeah, Ricky Jones,”
“Dad’s best friend.” Josh sighed. “I should have known.”
“His truck had a few new dents in it,” Robert told them. “I’ve had David haul him in and impound his truck. He says he got a call from your dad, who claimed that the entire accident was a lie, so you could lock him up for good. He claims he only crashed his truck into a tree.”
Josh groaned. “Sorry about all this.”
Robert slapped him on the back. “Son, you have nothing to apologize for. Your father is a grown man. Long before you were even a glimmer in your mother’s eye, I had to deal with Kevin.”
Josh and Robert followed the women up to the front porch.
“He was trouble even back then?” Josh asked.
“Your father has been trouble since the day he was born,” Robert joked as he sat down next to Carrie’s mother, Amelia. “Actually, both Ricky and your dad have been big problems. It’s kind of how we met.” Robert reached over and took his wife’s hand.
Josh leaned against the railing next to Carrie. He wrapped his arm around her protectively as he thought about how bad the accident could have been.
“The two of them had me cornered after school once,” Amelia said.
“What?” Carrie gasped. “What happened?”
Her mother smiled. “Your father saved me.”
“Got my ass kicked. If it wasn’t for Todd and Iian Jordan, I’d probably be toothless and walk with a limp.”
“Ricky and Kevin broke one of Robert’s ribs and punctured his lung,” Carrie’s mother added.
“How did I not know about this?” Carrie shook her head.
“There are some things,” her dad said, “we decided to keep from you. Besides, it was a long time ago.”
“What else did my old man do?” Josh asked. “I never could get a straight answer from my mom or grandmother. Maybe you guys can fill me in on some of it.”
They looked at one another and, for a minute, he wondered if they would say anything. He decided to give them a hint.
“Is it true he burned down a house?” The rumor had always haunted him and his siblings. His brother Tom had been old enough to overhear people talking, but he’d been so young, he hadn’t understood anything.
“Yes.” Robert sighed. “Allison’s mother’s place.”
“Allison? As in, Iian and Allison Jordan? Riley, Connor, and Jacob’s mom?” Carrie sounded shocked.
“Yes.” Robert sighed. “Once again, that was a long time ago.”
“Is that why he was locked up shortly after I was born?” he asked.
“They only gave him five years, since Allison and Iian pulled Teresa out in time and she wasn’t hurt.”
“My god,” he said under his breath. His eyes went to the floor. Knowing just a hint of what his father had done to the people in Pride, he wondered why he hadn’t been kicked out of town long ago.
“Hey.” Amelia stood up and walked over to him. “No one in town has ever or would ever blame you or your brother and sister, even your mother, for anything your father has done.” She sighed. “I think I covered it all, but just in case you misunderstood.” She touched his face gently. Carrie was so much like the woman standing in front of him now. “Don’t go down the pity road. Your mother tried doing that plenty of times, but the people in Pride have shown her nothing but love and kindness. Just as they’ve shown you and your brother and sister.” She touched his arm and waited until he nodded in agreement.
“I knew long before you started dating Carrie that you and Tommy were nothing like Kevin,” Robert added. “That’s the only reason I allowed you to date Carrie in the first place.”
Robert leaned down and gave Louie some attention. “We’d better go. I’ve got to head back and fill out all the paperwork.” He stood, and Josh held out his hand to shake his.
“Thank you.”
“Just doin’ my job.” Robert smiled at him and took his hand easily. “Now, as a father, I’m going to warn you”—he pulled him closer and Josh allowed himself to be tugged a step— “if you hurt my girl again, I’ll have to hunt you down this time.”
“Yes, sir.” He smiled and chuckled.
“Think that’s funny?” Robert said softly.
Josh dropped the smile from his face. “No, sir.”
Carrie and her mother broke into laughter. “Dad,” Carrie said, coming up behind him and resting a hand on his arm, “everyone knows that in our family, it’s Mom you have to fear.”
Robert chuckled, and all the tension left Josh’s body. Still, as they watched the two of them drive away, his mind replayed the stories they’d told him about his father.
“How about I bake cookies?” Carrie said, opening the front door.
“I could eat cookies,” he said. She practically skipped to the kitchen.
“You could always come back here and help.”
“I could.” He nodded. “I have to make a call first.” He pulled out his cell.
“Okay.” She placed a kiss on his lips. “Welcome home.” She kissed him again before disappearing into the back.
He wanted privacy for the call, so he stepped outside and called his brother to relay everything he’d learned. He felt less worthy of being with Carrie than he had ever felt before.
Chapter 13
Carrie tried to stay cheerful the next day, even when she knew there was a black cloud hanging over Josh’s head. They drove Tom to the airport in Portland and said goodbye.
While there, they ate at a bistro and did a little shopping, since she needed some new undergarments to keep things spicy. Luckily, Josh didn’t seem to fit the common standard stereotype of men not enjoying shopping.
In one large department store she had lost him for almost half an hour and found him in the pet section contemplating new toys for Lou
ie and the other dogs she was hosting. She still hadn’t found new homes for the terrier puppies and their mother, or the poodle she’d been calling Dash, since the dog loved to run.
Riley had come to take new pictures of the animals and helped her post them online along with funny introductions to each animal.
“You don’t have to buy these.” She looked down at Josh’s full basket of animal toys. He’d even gotten Bert, the llama, a big green ball after explaining to her that he’d seen videos of horses playing with them.
“I know.” He threw his arm around her shoulder. “But it gives me pleasure seeing how much fun they have. Do you think the cats will like that?” He stopped and looked at a feather toy.
They spent the next fifteen minutes in the pet aisle and, when they checked out, Carrie cringed at the amount Josh was spending on animals that would eventually go to forever homes.
When they finally pulled back up at the house, Riley and Lilly were walking out of the barn together with smiles on their faces. Since they were both dressed in riding clothes, she guessed that they had taken Chester and Rudy out.
“I’m going to distribute these,” Josh said, carrying the bags away from the car.
“Okay, do you want some help?” she called out.
“Nope, I’ve got this.” He smiled back at her. “Have fun.”
“What have you two been up to?” Riley asked, her eyes following Josh. “What’s in the bags?”
“Toys…”
Riley turned, and her smile grew. “What kind of toys?” Her eyebrows wiggled.
“Like you would even know what to do with toys, or without them…” Lilly said, nudging her cousin.
“You either.” Riley hip bumped Lilly.
“If you two are done…”
“Ball gags, handcuffs.” Riley ticked them off on her fingers. “Strap-ons.” Then she frowned. “What would you do with one of those anyway?”
Carrie couldn’t help it, she laughed. “Okay, enough, Miss Fifty Shades. Let’s go inside and open a bottle of wine.” She wrapped her arms around her friends and walked to the house.
By the time Josh finally made it into the house, they had already opened their second bottle of wine. Carrie wanted dinner, so she pulled out a large pan and the three of them made lasagna. Normally, she would have been done and her kitchen cleaned in under twenty minutes, but with the three of them messing around, the kitchen was a disaster, and after twenty minutes, the lasagna wasn’t even ready to go in the oven yet.
“Talk about kitchen nightmares.” Josh chuckled as he leaned against the doorjamb.
“We’ve been overrun by the giggle cousins.” Carrie laughed and nudged Riley away from the pan, so she could lay another layer of cheese down.
“If Sara was here, this would have been done long ago,” Lilly said.
“She always was the most responsible out of us,” Riley agreed. “Maybe that’s why my dad put her in charge of the restaurant.”
“Did that bother you?” Carrie asked as Josh walked over and grabbed a cold beer out of the fridge.
“No.” Riley shrugged. “I have other plans in life. Not that I don’t love the Oar, but…”
“Spill,” Lilly said.
Josh quietly walked out of the room, but not before leaning in and kissing Carrie softly on the cheek. “I’ll get out of your way,” he’d whispered in her ear.
“Yeah.” She turned to Riley. “What do you want to do?”
“Well, Conner wants to go into the coast guard. Jacob… well, he’s been obsessed with fire trucks for as long as anyone can remember.” Riley sat down. “Me?” She shrugged.
“Go on,” both Lilly and Carrie said at the same time.
“It’s going to sound silly, but I’ve always hoped to open my own boutique.”
Carrie’s eyes widened. “In Pride? That would be amazing.”
“Really?” Riley turned to her. “You know, a high-end store with quality merchandise. Something for everyone in Pride. Not just clothing, but maybe even…” She sighed. “My mother always told me stories of when my grandparents owned an antique store in town. Adam’s Antiques. My mother and her sister, Abby, used to work there all the time before Abby died of cancer.”
“I didn’t know that.” Carrie put the finishing touches on the lasagna, shoved the pan into the hot oven, and set the timer. “Where was it?”
“Where Sara’s Nook is now.”
“Wow.” She sat down, sipping her wine again. Riley and Lilly were already sitting at the table. “So, where could you open a shop? There’s an old building next to where Josh’s place is. The one between the pizzeria and his place.”
“That place has been empty for as long as I can remember. I think the ceiling is falling in,” Lilly said, pouring some more wine for herself.
“How would you get the money to start something like that?” Carrie asked.
“How did you get the money for all this?” Lilly asked, looking around.
“Loans. That’s why I have to work at the Oar so much.” She laughed. “And I had some saved up after graduation.”
“I have almost five thousand saved up.” Riley smiled.
“That’s a start…” Lilly was silent for a while. “I have double that.” She turned to Riley. “What do you think about having a partner?”
Riley’s entire body jerked. “Really?” Her eyes grew wide.
“Not only are we cousins, I’ve seen your taste in clothes and well… everything. You have amazing taste. I have a great business sense. I could handle the business side of things while you handle stock and sales.”
Riley started jumping up and down. “Is this going to happen?”
Lilly giggled. “If we can make a deal on the place. I’m not even sure who owns it at the moment.”
“I do.” Everyone turned to Josh, who was leaning on the doorjamb again, smiling at them. “If you fix it up, it’s yours free of charge until you can afford rent.”
“Seriously?” Riley jumped up from the chair. “You’d give us a building until then?”
“Why not? It was attached to my building when I purchased it. They threw it in for some reason. I think because they knew it was too far gone. I was going to eventually tear it down and put more parking spaces.” He had to hold his beer away as Riley stormed him and gave him a huge hug.
Then she turned back to Lilly. “So?” She waited.
Lilly stood up and walked over, holding out her hand. “Partners?”
Riley grabbed her cousin and hugged her as they danced around the floor.
* * *
“That was an amazing thing you did tonight,” Carrie said to him after Riley and Lilly left.
He wrapped his arms around her. “They’re actually doing me a favor if they can fix the place up. It’s an eyesore and I was afraid someone would get hurt sneaking into the place.”
She leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips. “Thank you.”
He smiled and pulled her back for another kiss. He started walking backwards in through the front door. “You could thank me…some more…” he said between kisses as she laughed.
“Oh?” She shut the door behind them and locked it. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, for starters…” He reached for her shirt and pulled it over her head. “I was thinking…” His finger trailed over her silky bra. She held in a breath as his eyes moved over her skin, over the beautiful mounds of her breast, then lower over her flat belly. He swiveled his fingertip around her belly button and smiled when she sucked in her breath. “Maybe you could give me a back rub.” He dropped his hand and tugged his own shirt off and tossed it on the floor beside hers.
“We’re going to have to have a serious talk about cleanliness around here,” she joked as he started moving them towards the stairs.
“Have you seen the mess you ladies left in the kitchen?” He laughed.
“Point taken.” She grabbed hold of his jean buckle and tugged him closer. “We’ll deal with the mess late
r,” she said against his skin. “For now, take me upstairs.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He scooped her up, and her lips came back to his as he carried her up.
When he set her back on her feet at the foot of the bed, she pulled away slightly, then turned until his back was to the bed. Placing her palms on his chest, she shoved lightly, and he fell back onto the bed with a laugh.
She straddled his hips and the laughter died in his chest as something else built. His hands went to her hips as she ground them against him. He grew painfully hard as his eyes moved over her entire body. She slowly reached up, freed her long hair from the clip, and shook it out so it fell over her shoulders.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. His hands brushed her silky pale skin. She was almost too much, too good for him. He dropped his hand. She smiled and gripped his wrists, tugging them over his head. “What’s this?” he asked playfully.
“There’s something I’ve wanted to try.” She leaned down, putting his hands together. Reaching down, she rummaged around on the floor.
“Going to tie me up?” he joked, when she came back to him with the belt from her robe. “What? No handcuffs? I’d think a police officer’s daughter would—”
“Shush,” she warned him. “I could always find something to shove in your mouth,” she teased, and he chuckled. He held still as she tied his hands above his head. The knot was so loose, he could have broken free, but he figured he’d allow her this little exploration.
He couldn’t have prepared for the torture that was coming his way. She started with little kisses, then trailed her lips down his neck, over his chest and stomach. When she reached the top of his jeans, she slowly undid the clasp and slid them down his legs, inch by inch. Each new exposed part of his skin, she kissed and teased.
Her breast pushed against his thigh as she moved back up to his lips.
“How am I doing?” she purred next to his ear.
“You’re driving me mad.” He practically growled it.
“Good,” she said and started all over again. This time, she nibbled on his skin and scratched her nails over him, sending waves of desire crashing hard and fast.
